Arc 2 Chapter 2
It was night time in Inkopolis, and the streets showed little life. At the Shellendorf Institute, jellyfish guards were patrolling the institute grounds watching for anything. As time went by, two silhouettes can be seen looking through a skylight on the roof looking into the museum. The two figures opened the skylight and squid formed as they dropped. It was two inklings that returned back to their bipedal forms and looked around. They placed a ski mask over their heads and squid formed to avoid the guards. They slithered to the human exhibit hall looking for something. The went back to their bipedal form and looked around.
"It's not here, they must not have put it out yet," said one of the inkling burglars
"Where could it be?" asked the other one.
"I don't know, maybe they put it in the back somewhere, let's keep looking," said the first inkling.
The two inklings squid formed and made their way toward the back rooms. They moved down a hall and looked through the doors and had no luck. The two of them spot the last door but it is locked. Inside they see their target the metal pod that was dug up at piranha pit. The inklings devise a plan to move through the ductwork to access the locked room. The two of them drop out of the air vent in the ceiling in squid form and turn back. The two turn and look at the pod.
"So,... how do we get it out," asked one inkling.
"I'm not sure, but the boss wants it took back to headquarters," said the other one.
Just then they notice a red light flashing on the pod.
"what's that red light flashing for?" asked the inking.
"I'm not sure, but let's not worry about...what are you doing!" exclaimed the other inkling.
"What's in this thing anything?" asked the inkling as he walked over the pod and looked through the hatch window.
"What's it matter! We gotta get this thing outta here before we get caught!" shouted the other inkling.
"I can't see anything, it's too dirty," said the inkling looking through the window.
As the inkling jumped down he accidentally pushed a button. A voice then came on from the pod.
"Preparing to open pod...subject under thawing process...please be careful," the voice said from the pod.
The inklings jerked back and were surprised.
"What the?!" said the first inkling.
"I don't know, I couldn't understand it!" said the other inkling.
They couldn't make out what it said, but it was loud enough to get the attention of a nearby guard. The jellyfish guard made his way down the hallway to the back rooms and saw the inkling burglars in the last room with the door open.
"Hey!" shouted the guard before he activated the alarm.
The alarm went off and the inklings squid jumped into the ventilation system. They maneuvered through the ducts until they managed to get away from the museum.
"That was close!" exclaimed the inkling.
"Yeah, but the boss isn't going to be happy when we get back empty-handed," exclaimed the other inkling as the two squid jumped off the roof of the institute and out of sight.
Meanwhile, as the guard left and ran back to the front lobby the pod opened to reveal a figure inside. Unlike the two burglars, this figure was clearly not an inkling or any oceanic creature. It was a human, he had short blonde hair and when he started to open his eyes they were blue without any markings around them. His ears were small and round unlike an inkling and had flat teeth with small four sharp fangs instead of three large fangs. The human started to slowly move and fell forward on the floor, he stayed motionless for a few minutes until he got his bearings. He slowly got up and looked around.
"Where...am, I?" the human asked himself.
He started to put his hands over his face to break his daze.
He slowly walked out of the room and down a hallway, confused to where he was. He made it to the exhibit lobby and looked around.
"What is this place?" the human asked again.
"Who's there?! shouted a voice.
The human panicked and hid behind the human fossil exhibit as a jellyfish guard rushed over with a flashlight. After looking around the guard moved away.
"That was close, was that a talking jellyfish, he didn't sound friendly. I better find a way out of this place," said the human as he moved around hoping to avoid anyone.
"This place is amazing, what is all this stuff," he said in curiosity as he looked around trying to find an exit.
All the doors were locked and so were the windows. He then came across some kind of shute and opened it. It read garbage and seemed to go down.
"Well, hopefully, this leads out," said the Human. As he climbed in, a guard came around the corner and pointed a flashlight at him.
"Hey, you! Stop!" yelled the jellyfish guard as he ran toward the human. The human took no time and slid down the garbage shoot and landed in a dumpster.
he climbed out and ran down an alley confused at where he was. When he reached the end of the alley he bent over in exhaustion. As he pulled back up he noticed all the lit-up signs and different advertisements on the buildings. Unsure how to make things he stayed hidden and found a box to sleep in until he figured things out.
He nodded off and fell asleep. Exhausted from escaping the museum.
The following morning Cassie woke up from a call on her phone. "mmmmm..." Cassie mumbled as she rolled and placed the pillow on her face as the phone continued to ring. She finally threw the pillow off her face and turned to answer the phone. It was Marie also known as agent 2.
Cassie answered the phone. "What is it Marie?... do have any idea what time it is!" said Cassie in an irritated tone.
"That's Agent 2! and this is an emergency, report to Cuttlefish's immediately," commanded Marie before she was hung up.
"Uuuhhh..." Cassie moaned as she was irritated from being woken up.
Cassie got up and ready. She made her way down to the storm grate at the plaza and headed to Cuttlefish's shack. There, she met up with Cuttlefish and the squid sisters.
"This better be good," said Cassie agitated with her arms crossed.
"It is Agent 3, apparently there was a break-in at the Shellendorf Institute, two masked individuals attempted to take an artifact from the museum but fortunately their attempt had failed and they got away," explained Marie.
"What?! That's It!...Pppfff, nothing the police can't handle," said an irritated Cassie.
"That's not all Agent 2, Apparently they weren't alone. Another figure was spotted before it got away but the description by the guard had me confused but concerned. The figure apparently was neither an inkling or any other oceanic, wearing odd clothes. Possibly an octoling in disguise, I'm not sure," said Marie.
"Sounds like they need a detective too," said Cassie rolling her eyes.
"Agent 2 this is serious, If it was an octoling, then we need to address it, this would be a direct violation of the treaty if they attempted to steal anything," said Marie.
"Marie don't be see hard on her, she had been through a lot and I'm sure she had other matters to attend too," said Callie.
"No, Callie, It's...ok (sigh) I'll see what I find out," said Cassie in a defeated tone.
"Thank you Agent 3, we knew we could count on you," said Callie in relief.
"Head over to the Institute and find any clues lass, hopefully, the octolings aren't up to something," said Cuttlefish.
"right away, captain," said Cassie as she saluted and headed back to Inkopolis.
Marie gave a long sigh and turned toward Callie.
"Callie I know you're sticking up for her but she's a squidbeak agent and needs to learn to follow orders," said Marie crossing her arms.
"I know Marie, but she's done a great job as an agent in catching Octavio and bringing the great zapfish back, I'm sure she feels overwhelmed and is trying to catch up with her life and all, just go easy on her, ok," pleaded Callie trying to relieve the tension from her cousin.
"(sigh) Cal, you're always trying to take the tension off things...but, fine I'll lay off a little," said Marie giving a smile.
"Thanks, Marie," said Callie as she hugged her cousin.
"All right grandsquids, we need be on the lookout for that strange figure, I'd say go around the city and look around and ask questions, in your disguises of course," suggested Cuttlefish.
"Ok, gramps," said both of the cousins.
The three of them made their way to the storm grate and headed off to Inkopolis.
A figure was sleeping in a box, sunlight was bleeding through one of the creases of the box. The figure slowly opened his eyes and opened the box to look out. He eventually crawled out the box and looked around unsure where he was. he recapped the events at the museum from last night and placed his hand on his head.
"mmmmmm" the figure moaned as he closed his eyes. visions were starting to appear in his head about past events. These images were about him being found by strange creatures that had found him in a metal pod, he soon befriended these creatures and dwelled among them. He also remembered fighting in a war between the creatures over their homeland and being tossed back in the same metal pod. A voice could be heard shouting "BLAAAKE! as things turned dark at the end of the vision.
"Blake...Blake... BLAKE! THAT"S ME!, Blake loudly shouted then covering his mouth to quiet himself. "Wait, where?... What?... When?" said blake confused with his head hurting.
"I... remember now...wait...Cuttlefish...Octavio...the war, THE WAR!" shouted Blake as he started to run around. Blake then stopped to recollect his thoughts. He remembers being thrown back into the cryostasis pod and falling to his doom off that floating landmass.
He then looks around again and heads back to the end of the alley studying the buildings.
"how long has it been? I don't recognize this place at all," said blake worried. He then walks back into the alley and ponders. After a moment it comes to him.
"I have to find Cuttlefish, but where do I start. I don't even know where I am," said Blake.
Footsteps could be heard approaching coming from the street getting closer.
"I gotta hide," says Blake quietly.
He hides in a dumpster and peers out the top to see who was coming. It was three inklings talking about the museum incident from last night.
As they walk off, Blake raises up and looks at them.
"Those are inklings, but their wearing clothes I've never seen before. I have a gut feeling that maybe I should stay out of sight until I figure out what's going on especially since I almost got caught last night," said Blake as he spotted a manhole and went down into the sewers to stay out of sight.
Cassie finally made it to the Shellendorf Institute to see if she could find any clues or leads on the mysterious figure that escaped the museum from last night. She made her way through the main lobby and toward the human exhibits. The area was taped off by the inkling authorities and was denied access to the public. She walked under the tape with no one around and scoured for anything suspicious.
After minutes of looking she found nothing. She left the exhibit area and looked around until she heard some jellyfish museum staff talking about the events from last light to an inkling police officer. She eavesdropped behind an inkling statue in the inkling history exhibit.
"They broke in the very back room and were trying to get that metal pod out of here, but it appears they took whatever was in it if there was anything in that thing," said the jellyfish to the police officer.
"Hmmm, metal pod, I wonder why the burglars were after that?" pondered Cassie as she snuck away and made her way down to the room that housed the metal pod.
She squid formed down the hall to avoid attention until she reached the room. Once inside she changed back forms and studied the open pod. It was still covered in dried mud from the piranha pit. She looked inside the pod and saw a seat and a large empty compartment under it. As she looked around she had noticed footprints coming from out of the pod from stepping on mud that had dropped off the pod out toward the doorway.
The footprints were too small to belong to an inkling and they were coming from out of the pod.
"I wonder what was in this thing?" Cassie asked herself as she looked at the footprints and then back at the pod.
Cassie suddenly heard voices coming from down the hall. She panicked and saw that it was the jellyfish and police officer, come to investigate the pod.
Cassie squid formed and jumped through the air vent on the ceiling. She slithered through the ductwork and out of an air vent coming out in the main lobby. She sneaked away out of the front doors of the museum and changed form.
She looked back at the museum and pulled out her phone to inform Marie on what she found.
At the Arowana mall, the squid sisters, incognito were sitting at a table drinking sodas while looking and listening for anything that pertained to the events from the Shellendorf Institute. Just then Marie had received a call, it was Cassie, Marie answered the phone.
"Agent 3, have you found anything at the museum?" asked Marie.
"Not much, but apparently the thieves were trying to take this metal pod that was recently dug up, not sure how they could've gotten it though but a hatch on it was open. Nothing was in it, only a seat where someone could've sat in it and there were footprints coming from outside of it. Whatever was in it had smaller feet than an inkling's. The burglars must've taken whatever or whoever was in it," explained Cassie.
"huh, that's strange, I wonder what was in it? We have to keep searching, I'm not dropping the idea that this could be the octarians doings since they're so intrigued by human technology, but I also don't want to believe that the octarians are behind this. keep looking, agent." said Marie as she heard Cassie give a long agitated sigh on the other end of the phone.
"Fiiiine...I'll keep looking," said Cassie irritated.
Marie hung up and looked back at her cousin.
"soooo, what did she find?" asked Cassie with interest.
"Well, the burglars were after a large metal pod that was dug up at Pirahna pit. Cassie said the pod was open but empty. She thinks that something was in it, unsure if it was taken or escaped. I don't want to point the finger at the octarians, but I'm not sure who else it could be. I asked Cassie to keep looking for clues," said Marie answering Callie.
"I hope not Marie, I like that we're at peace with the octarians and that they won't have to steal the great zapfish again," said Callie with concern.
"I hope so too, Callie, but we can't always trust the octarians to hold on to their part of the deal. I'm hoping Cassie may get lucky and find a lead or something," said Marie sipping her soda.
"Well, what do we do now?" asked Callie sipping her soda.
"I'm not sure Cal, All we can do is keep looking, We'll report back to gramps in a little while," said Marie.
The two of them finished their drinks and continued walking around the Arowana mall hoping to stumble into any kind of clues.
At a disclosed area, two inklings are pleading in front of an older inkling wearing a jacket and skull mask over his mouth. He had orange eyes and red tentacles that were tied in a ponytail. Behind the inkling were other inklings, not happy at what they were just informed by the two would-be burglars.
They were the Inkopolis crime syndicate. A crime organization that conducts gambling on turf wars, selling and distributing illegal turf weapons and replicas and stealing human artifacts on the black market, especially for the octarians. They have been running underground operations in Inkopolis for some time and learned to evade the authorities and paying petty criminals to do their deeds, keeping their hands clean from any kind of mishaps.
Their leader was known as Camper. He garnered the name from his past turf wars strategy when he was a turf war player. He climbed through the ranks of the turf war games until he made it to rank S, the highest rank an inkling could achieve. His S rank title overgrew his ego and he had no interest in being a team player. During the final match of a splat tournament, he violated multiple turf war rules and cheated to ensure that we won the tournament but this all caught up to him as he and his team were disqualified and his S rank evoked. He left turf war games and disappeared then forming his own team of delinquents that evolved into the Inkopolis crime syndicate committing all kinds of crimes around the city.
Camper had his arms crossed glaring at two inklings that were kneeling in front of him and his gang.
"Boss, we're sorry! We were trying to get the pod out of the museum and we almost got caught!" explained one of the inklings.
"Yeah...What were we supposed to do!?" said the other inkling defending themselves.
"Excuses! I should have you splatted for your incompetence! You can forget getting your payment!" shouted Camper.
"What! But we..." exclaimed the inkling.
"Get out of my sight!" commanded Camper pointing to the exit.
"Let's go before he does splat us!" pleaded the other inkling to his friend.
The inklings squid formed and rushed out of Camper's sight. Camper gave a long sigh with his eyes closed. "Idiots," said Camper.
"Sir, what do we do now? The octarians are expecting the metal pod that was dug up at the site," exclaimed one of his gang members with concern.
"You think, I don't know that?!" responded Camper in an agitated tone as the gang member was startled.
Camper gave a sigh and started to walk away. He then turned back to his gang with a serious look.
"Some of you go out and head to the museum when the coast is clear. I've been hearing rumors about a third person that was at the museum, we need to find out who it was and why they were there. If the octarians think we couldn't get the job done or do the job themselves, then they got another thing coming. They need not think we won't rat out that they may have sent agents into the city violating the treaty. Now Go!" shouted Camper at his gang.
A few of his gang members squid formed and left the area with others leaving toward the opposite direction with Camper.
That Evening, Cassie and the squid sisters headed back to Cuttlefish's to give a report.
So far the girls could not pick up anything on the museum event and felt the trail was turning cold. Exhausted from the day, Cassie soon left and headed home, annoyed by the fact she wasted her day on the case.
The squid sisters stayed over at Cuttlefish's until later and made their way back to Inkopolis disappointed that they came up with nothing.
Everyone went to bed hoping they have better luck the following day.
Meanwhile, Camper's gang was snooping around for anything that had to do with the failed job at the Shellendorf Institute.
The human, Blake was roaming the sewers under Inkopolis until he found a maintenance room to sleep in and grabbed a box he flattened to make a sleeping mat.
Blake was weary as a tear ran down his face scarred and confused at where he was and if he would see Cuttlefish and Mimi again.
Blake slowly closed his eyes and placed his hands under his head and drifted to sleep.